Freedom to Believe

The freedom to believe. Ahhh….this great American virtue now up in the air.

The issue in Indiana and around the country isn’t about servicing gay customers – that’s a diversion, or a straw man as they say in debate. All of us in the business world (Christian and non-Christian) service gay people, as well as all other sinners – for we are all sinners (Romans 3:10). So we serve everyone.

Yet when someone asks you to service a “request” that promotes an “activity,” “event,” or a “message” that is against your conscience you have the freedom (b/c of our freedom of religion) to turn the business away. The issue is that the government should never FORCE a business to go against their religious beliefs. For example, should the below “requests” be forced on business owners by the state?

Family-owned printing company is requested to print promotional flyers for a strip club

Jewish owned jeweler is requested to make jewelry with the Nazi symbol

Veteran-owned textiler is requested to sell 100 American flags for a flag burning ceremony

Gay-owned t-shirt maker is requested to make 1000 t-shirts to promote a marriage amendment

Muslim-owned baker is requested to bake a gay wedding cake

Christian-owned sign company is requested to make a billboard for Planned Parenthood

Hindu-owned photographer is requested to photograph a sex-party

The list goes on, but the question is “Should the government FORCE business owners to service all requests, regardless of the request?” That’s the bottom line.

Today, the diversion tactic of the secularists (those who drive the anti-Christ agendas – not the gay community) is to use the government to FORCE Christian business owners to approve of “activities, events, or messages” that are against their beliefs. In essence, they’re pushing Christians out of the marketplace. And, yes, it’s only Christians they’re after.

Our first freedom, the Freedom of Religion, protects us from being forced by the government to act against our beliefs. The reason it’s called our first freedom is because the founders believed that religion (or belief about God, specifically according to the Bible) was the foundation of our Republic.

John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

Throw out the freedom to believe in God – and act on those beliefs – and our Republic will fall. This is where it gets a bit interesting. Today, can you act on your beliefs?

Unfortunately, the Christian church in America has relegated “faith” into the four walls of a church building. It’s been taught that there is a divide between what is secular (govt/biz/media) and what is sacred (faith/church/etc). With that paradigm as a foundation, the freedom of religion – or the freedom to believe – means nothing. So what did our founding fathers mean by the freedom of religion?​

They believed that the freedom of religion was not just about “believing” in God, but also about “exercising” that belief. In other words, not only were you free to attend church on Sunday morning, but you were also free to live out your faith in the marketplace, the government, the schoolhouse, and beyond. The government was in no way to force you to act against your beliefs – unless your beliefs went against a compelling government interest, such as killing someone or doing drugs, etc. Basically, the government was to stay out of your hair.

When adopting the Virginia statue for religious liberty in 1786, Thomas Jefferson said, “Truth is great, and will prevail if left alone.” Today the government is doing the opposite. As a result, our first freedom is about to be re-defined as we have known it for over two centuries.

That leaves us to a final question. When/if the freedom of religion is re-defined to mean only “belief” and not “actions that accompany that belief” will we still act? Nothing in my Bible says that I must have governmental protections to live out my faith. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite was true for many of the people of faith in the pages of Scripture.

The Christian faith begins with death (death of Christ) and ends in renewed life (resurrection of Christ). So too, living out our faith will begin with death (death to the American life as we know it) and will end in renewed life (being counted with Christ, worthy of persecution). So the final question is, “Are we willing to follow Him – whatever the cost?”